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Major Tom is a fictional astronaut referenced in David Bowie's songs "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes", and "Hallo Spaceboy" (particularly in the remix by the Pet Shop Boys). Bowie's own interpretation of the character evolved throughout his career. 1969's "Space Oddity" depicts an astronaut who casually slips the bonds of the world to journey beyond the stars. In the 1980 song "Ashes to Ashes," Bowie reinterprets Major Tom as an oblique autobiographical symbol for himself. Major Tom is described as a "junkie, strung out in heavens high, hitting an all-time low". This lyric was interpreted as a play on the title of Bowie's 1977 album ''Low'', which charted his withdrawal following his drug abuse in the United States. Additionally, the choked and self-recriminating tone used in the lyrics "Time and again I tell myself I'll stay clean tonight." reinforces an autobiographical and retrospective interpretation. A short time later, there is another reversal of Major Tom's original withdrawal, turning 'outwards' or towards space.〔Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': pp.109–116〕 In 1984, Peter Schilling continued the story of Major Tom in his hit single "Major Tom (Coming Home)". Other artists who have subsequently made substantial contributions to the Major Tom story include K.I.A. and The Tea Party, among others. Due to some similarities in Elton John's "Rocket Man", there is a possible connection between the Rocket Man and Major Tom, a connection notably made by Bowie himself, who while singing Space Oddity in concert would sometimes call out, "Oh, Rocket Man!"〔(Was "Major Tom" the astronaut a real person? ) from ''The Straight Dope''〕 ==Songs== In "Space Oddity", from the 1969 album ''David Bowie'' (later retitled ''Space Oddity''), Major Tom's departure from Earth is successful and everything goes according to plan. At a certain point during the travel ('past one hundred thousand miles'), he thinks that "my spaceship knows which way to go" and proceeds to say "Tell my wife I love her very much." Control then informs him, "Ground Control to Major Tom: your circuit's dead, there's something wrong" and attempts to reestablish contact with Major Tom. Tom's final words in the song (possibly not heard by Ground Control) are: "Here... am I floating in my tin can, far above the Moon. Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do." In the 1969 music video version, David Bowie plays as Major Tom, Ground Control (GC), and the Countdown Announcer. When the lyrics "And the stars look very different today" are said, two lovely women appear, portraying either angels or aliens, or perhaps both. The moment "Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles, I'm feeling very still" are said, the two women can be seen removing Major Tom's helmet and spacesuit. Later a still fully outfitted Major Tom can be seen spinning around in space, with a panicked Ground Control attempting to contact him; the spinning Major Tom is either the reality of the situation, or Ground Control's imagination. The music video ends with Major Tom sitting in his tin can, far above the Moon, with the two women by his side in a ménage à trois style.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Space Oddity Original Video (1969) )〕 In 1980, Bowie created a sequel entitled "Ashes to Ashes". The song was a Number 1 hit single and also appeared on his Number 1 LP ''Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)''. The song doesn't actually say much about Major Tom, except to call him a "junkie" (slang for a person with a heroin addiction or other compulsive habit). The context of the lyrics seems to indicate that the song is mainly about Bowie's own soul searching, rather than a literal continuation of the Major Tom story. There is an inclusion of saying "strung out in heavens high, hitting an all time low" referring to him getting high on heroin, while his life is low. In Peter Schilling's 1983 song "Major Tom (Coming Home)" Tom sends a final message, "Give my wife my love..." with no transmissions back to Earth from that point. He then declares that he's "coming home", being commanded by the light, which can be taken to refer to the afterlife. The associated music video also shows an object falling back through the atmosphere, presumably either Major Tom or his ship. In this song the word "light" in "now the Light commands" is often heard or transcribed as "life" but the liner notes of the ''Error in the System'' LP (and the original German) confirm the word "light." The German-language version "Völlig losgelöst" is contained in Schilling's 1983 German LP ''Fehler im System''. Both albums also contain a different song without lyrics entitled "Major Tom, Part II". In 1994, Schilling teamed with Bomm-Bastic to record a sped-up Techno-Trance Mix of "Major Tom (Coming Home)" that was released in English and German versions under the EP title of ''Major Tom '94''. A recent cover, renamed "Major Tom", was released in 2009 by the American rock band Shiny Toy Guns and later featured in a commercial for the Lincoln MKZ. Also in 1983, Schilling's song was recorded in French by Plastic Bertrand, but with slightly altered lyrics, in which Major Tom prefers to stay away from Earth and its selfishness and danger of nuclear war. The title track of Matthew Wilder's 1984 LP ''Bouncin' Off the Walls'' tells a similar story of an unnamed character having a personal crisis while piloting a spacecraft: "Tell my family I love them.... I can't handle this at all.... May Day, I'm fallin'."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Matthew Wilder - Bouncin' Off The Walls Lyrics )〕 The connection to Major Tom is otherwise not stated. In 1995, Bowie released a song entitled "Hallo Spaceboy" on his LP ''Outside''. While this song itself does not directly reference Major Tom, references to Major Tom do appear in the remixed version that Bowie released with the Pet Shop Boys in 1996. The 1996 remix contains lyrics from "Space Oddity" that are sung by Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant. At the Drive-In's 2000 song "Cosmonaut" was sometimes introduced at live shows by a recorded "final message" from Major Tom before he dies in space. The message does not appear in the recorded version of "Cosmonaut", which itself has no apparent connection to Major Tom. In 2002, K.I.A. created a song entitled "Mrs. Major Tom" on his Adieu Shinjuku Zulu album, where the song is sung by Larissa Gomes. Here the story is told from the perspective of Major Tom's wife left at home. The song was also sung (solo) by Sheryl Crow in a new arrangement on William Shatner's 2011 album ''Seeking Major Tom''. In 2004, The Tea Party created a song entitled "Empty Glass" on its Seven Circles album. The song is written from the perspective of an unnamed person who is questioning Major Tom intensely about the purpose of life. The song also references Ground Control and the Bowie phrases "star man" and "diamond dogs". The New Zealand comedic folk duo Flight of the Conchords allude to the character in their 2008 tribute song "Bowie" where they place Bowie himself in space, and give him the rank of Lieutenant. In 2010 Warpaint covered "Ashes to Ashes" as part of a David Bowie tribute album entitled We Were So Turned On: A Tribute To David Bowie. In 2011, Jimmy Fallon appeared on the "Piers Morgan Tonight" television program, playing the guitar and singing a broad parody of "Space Oddity" along the lines of: "This is Tim Tebow to Jesus Christ", using a Bowie-esque vocal style. He also performed the song on his late night talk show ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' in the character of an amalgamation of Tim Tebow and David Bowie called "T-Bowie". Major Tom also has had and continues to have passing references in other popular songs, such as: Five Star's 1986 song "Rain or Shine", Def Leppard's 1987 song "Rocket", Marilyn Manson's 1997 song "Apple of Sodom", Lorraine Bowen's 2002 song "Space", The Mars Volta's 2005 live rendition of the song "Cicatriz" featuring a lengthy jam, which would evolve into the song "Cassandra Gemini", Cold's 2005 song "Happens All The Time", Alphabeat's 2007 song "Fantastic 6", The Cab's 2011 song "Angel with a Shotgun" and the 2015 Lana Del Rey song "Terrence Loves You". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Major Tom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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